October 13, 2010

Sprint Football Takes Down Army

In the biggest win of the season thus far, the sprint football team went on the road to down Army, 20-10, in West Point, N.Y. The win raised the Red’s season record to 4-0 (2-0 CSFL) and represented a big hurdle overcome in its quest for the elusive conference championship.

“Going down to Army and beating them on their home turf was big for us as a team. It gave us the confidence we need for the rest of the year,” said senior quarterback Elliot Corey.

Splitting quarterback duties, regular starter Corey and freshman Brendan Miller combined to go 13 for 34 in pass attempts with each tossing one touchdown, and no interceptions. Junior running back Douglas Famularo had a game-high 71 yards on the ground against the tough Army front-seven.

The Black Knights got on the scoreboard first with an early first quarter field goal. After a defensive standoff for the remainder of that period, the Red offense found its rhythm and, against the vaunted Army defense, produced perhaps its best quarter of football thus far this season.

1:27 into the second quarter, Corey connected with sophomore wideout Spenser Grunenfelder for a 29-yard touchdown reception. After putting up big numbers and a few highlight-reel grabs in the early goings of the season, Grunenfelder was shut out last week. On this day, however, he found his groove with the Red passers against the Black Knight defense, hauling in a team-high seven catches for 76 yards and the one score.

Struggling in the running game, the Red was able to execute its downfield passing game well.

“We weren’t able to get a good ground game going; their front seven are probably the best in the league, so we were forced to throw it down the field,” Corey said.

After only six more minutes of game time, senior Alex Perilstein scored his first of two 30+-yard field goals on the day, netting a 32- yarder.

Closing out an exciting quarter of offense, it was Miller and junior Garrett Koehler’s turn to hook-up for a big downfield play. The two connected for a 24-yard touchdown pass that would put the Red up, 17-3.

Coming out after the half, the Cornell defense refused to allow Army back into the game. Junior linebacker Tim Dooley put up a dominant performance, recording a game-high 14 solo tackles, including two for a loss, and an interception. Senior defensive back John Mackintosh added nine tackles. Senior linebacker Clayton Hemminger had the Red’s only sack, as well as two tackles for a loss of a combined 21 yards.

The Black Knights were able to move the ball at certain times fairly effectively against Cornell, with quarterback Tim Meier completing 24 of 52 passes for 249 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The run defense however remained stingy, allowing only 72 yards on 26 carries, for a meager 2.8 yards per attempt average.

Despite giving up some yards, the defense allowed the only Army touchdown of the night with 13 minutes left in the game when Meier found wide receiver Cody Nyp for a 19-yard touchdown.

Cornell will enjoy a well-timed bye this week following the big win. Their next game will be on Oct. 22 when the Red welcomes the Penn Quakers to Ithaca. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.